Catherine Shaw of Allbone and Trimit designs
and makes bespoke clothes for women. Her
motto is “Only ever wear clothes that make you feel like doing a small
dance”. She specializes in creating
colourful wedding dresses that can be worn again, giving a dress an afterlife
and allowing the owner to relive that special moment; Cocktail Frocks for the
best parties; and she has introduced a work range, meaning a woman never has to
walk into a meeting and find her dress staring back at her. All are beautifully tailored (the workmanship is so beautiful, you could almost wear the clothes inside out) and all made
with love in her Crystal Palace studio.

In
your professional life, what is the single best thing about what you do?

I have to
say the single best thing about what I do is making people smile!! Making a
woman look good by designing the perfect dress for her and the event she is
attending make me smile too. My aim is to enhance all the good bits and
disguise the least liked which in itself makes a woman exude confidence and
smile!!

Do
you have a creative hero / heroine and if so, why?

My creative
hero is the Australian costume designer Catherine Martin. I am drawn to her
because she is a very grounded, creative woman who uses her own ‘space’ to the
maximum good. She is talented, fresh and allows others to grow creatively. And
I love her zest for life and freedom with colour.

What
piece of advice do you wish you had been given at the beginning of your career?

The advice I
would have wished to have been told is to follow your dream no matter what else
is going on, to be strong and focused and look at every obstacle as an
opportunity and don’t give up especially when it all looks grim…these are
usually the times you learn and grow the most.

If
you hit a creative block, what is your top tip for getting through it?

Having a
creative block is one of the most soul destroying times ever but it can happen
to the best of us. My top tip is as simple as doing something completely
different from the task in hand. My favourite one is go home and cosy up with
tea and a good book. This eases me out of the space in my head where I am
convinced I have no creative juices left and puts me in the place where I come
back to ‘Me’.

And
finally, for fun, if you were a shoe, what type of shoe would you be and why?

If I were a
shoe I’d be a ‘Boat shoe’ handmade by Dubarry’s in Ireland. My colour is deep
blue nubuck leather with tan leather trim. The reason is simple for me as I
love sailing and being a boatshoe would take me to the edge of exhilarating
pleasure racing on the high seas. I will see the dolphins first when hiking on
the rail, with the wind in my shoelaces.